There are six fan headers on the motherboard, and I have circled them in red. They all operate as hybrid PWM/DC mode headers, although I am sure that the pump header maxes out voltage at default. The headers can be configured through the UEFI or Windows to operate in either mode and reference different temperature sensors for their PWM curves.

The motherboard uses carbon fiber panels on the shields and chipset heat sink, but also offers the ability to change these panels out for gold or silver panels. The back of the motherboard doesn't have much circuitry other than some of the POSCAPs used for the VRMs.

The PCI-E layout is very simple; the x16 slots operate at x16/x8/x16/x8 PCI-E 3.0 at all times. The two x1 PCI-E slots are x1 PCI-E 2.0 each and connect to the chipset. Three M.2 slots operate at x4 PCI-E 3.0, and each one has an M.2 Shield which is supposed to help cool down M.2 drives, or at least make them more aesthetically appealing.

Six of the eight SATA6Gb/s ports are right angled as are the two internal USB 3.0 headers. The remaining two SATA6Gb/s headers are angled vertically and are located right below the 24-pin motherboard power connector.

You also get two 8-pin CPU power plugs on the motherboard as well as a 6-pin PCI-E power plug that provides extra juice to the PCI-E slots.

MSI also put in an overclocking knob with preset overclocking profiles, a power button, a reset button, and a POST code display in the lower right-hand corner of the motherboard. The motherboard also features an internal USB 3.1 type-C header on this bottom row.

MSI has also incorporated an RGB LED header as well as a digital RGB header. While most digital RGB headers on motherboards from other vendors offer power, ground, and data pins, MSI has also added in a clock pin.

MSI has a few headers located on the motherboard that will engage certain "hidden" features, such as the slow-mode header. The demo LED header allows you to quickly change between RGB LED presets. Two USB 2.0 headers are located to the left of the USB 3.1 type-C internal header.

The heat sinks are interesting on this motherboard, as the VRM heat sink is very tall and seems to be optimized for decent airflow, while the chipset heat sink is designed to act as a sink. The back of the VRM also gets a heat sink.

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